Lisboa Challenger: We already have the best 16 couples

Another long and intense day at the Club VII main court in order to define the last six couples that make it into the next round of the Portuguese tournament.

The first to seal their pass into the 1/8 round were Argentineans Cristian Calneggia and Andrés Britos who defeated Jacobo Blanco and Jesús Espejo by a double 6/4.

Next Catalonians Eduard Bainad and Gerard Company came back from a lost first set against brand new Spanish champions Gonzalo Rubio y Javier Ruiz to finally win 2/6, 6/4 and 7/5.

One of the surprises came in the third turn. Antonio Luque from Andalucia and puntano Cristian Germán Gutiérrez eliminated number 7 seeded couple of the tournament, Diego Ramos from Uruguay and Galician Adrián Blanco Antello by 6/4 and 7/5. This was their last game as a couple.

The duel between Argentinean couples was for the most experienced. Germán Tamame and Matías Nicoletti won by a tight 7/6 and 6/3 against Fabricio Cattaneo and Yain Melgratti.

Last to seal their pass after more than two hours of play and reaching late night hours were Jaime Bergareche and Martín Sánchez Piñeiro who won in an exciting tiebreak of the third set against lefties Juan Cruz Belluati and Ignacio González Gadea by 6/4, 6/7 and 7/6.

Tomorrow Thursday starts at 9:30 a.m. with the long awaited debut of the first four seeded couples of the tournament and all the attention will focus on the penultimate game with the presence of the Portuguese couple.